Darkness Within
by dryice02
Summary: Sakura has grown up a lot, being an ANBU captain and all, but when she gets taken by Itachi will she realize she's weak under her mask, or will she find an even greater strength? ItaSaku
1. Old Friends and a Captive

**Darkness Within**

**Chapter One - Old Friends and a Captive**

The wind ruffled the dark black cloak that the ANBU member wore. One stray lock of pink hair whipped out of the hood, only to be caught again with a black gloved hand. The white mask had nothing but black lining the underside of the eyeholes, the rest was plain, resembling nothing. The ninja was crouched on a high tree branch, and a few feet away three other ANBU members were also crouching on trees, awaiting the orders of their leader. They had been sent on a fairly easy mission. All they had to do was meet up with three of Konoha's ninjas, the reason Tsunade had sent an ANBU squad was because she feared that Sound nins would be following the three ninjas. Sakura hadn't been given their names, not that it mattered, she was told that she would recognize them.

Sakura snorted under her mask. She didn't want to be on this mission, her team had only got back after a week long mission, Sakura would much rather have been sleeping or soaking in the tub. Not that she ever got what she wanted. Sakura rose when she felt three chakras come into her range. They were a few miles away. Sakura waved her hand and her team followed her lead, moving soundlessly in the tree canopy. At seventeen Sakura had been admitted into ANBU, at eighteen she had been named the leader of squad 4. Now, at nineteen and after hundreds of assignments, Sakura found the task of escorting three people back to Konoha troublesome and a waste of her time. But an order was an order, and Sakura wasn't one to say no.

Sakura snorted again, she was starting to sound like Shikamaru. She raised a hand and everyone stopped, silent, waiting. The three chakra signatures were moving towards them, they were almost in view. Sakura leaned against the tree she was standing on. She looked back and noticed that Hinata, Kiba, and even Akamaru, Kiba's dog looked bored. Her other team member, Shino, looked like his usual stoic self, but she could tell that he too wasn't exactly thrilled to be on such a stupid mission. Sakura hoped the three people would hurry up, her bed was calling to her and she still had to write up a report for their last mission, and now this one on top of it. Finally the three figures came into view. Sakura's heart stopped. She vaguely registered that the three behind her also stiffened, if they hadn't been wearing their masks their faces probably would have looked shocked, so would Sakura's.

Her mind went blank, how? Everyone had though they had died, there hadn't been word from them in four years. But there they were, Kakashi and Naruto with Sasuke in tow. Four years ago Naruto and Kakashi had gone off in search of Sasuke, Sakura had wanted to go as well but Orochimaru had taken to attacking Konoha and her medical skills were needed too much for Tsunade to let her go. Four years. And they had managed to bring Sasuke with them.

Sakura felt like running up to them and hugging them all. But then her ANBU side took over, it was still a mission, and if she got all sentimental now she would be useless when or if anyone attacked them. Sakura wasn't about to lose any of her team due to carelessness, not again. Never again. Sakura nodded to her team and jumped down in front of her three old team mates. Sakura was going to have a talk with Tsunade about springing things on her suddenly. The woman certainly had a sadistic sense of humour. Sakura shook her head inwardly and nodded once at the three before her.

"We're here to escort you back to Konoha. Hokage's orders." Kakashi nodded his head, he looked the same, except perhaps a bit more weary. Naruto looked more mature, but still bursting with too much energy. Sasuke looked like his brother, only with shorter hair and taller. The rest of her team must have picked up on her want to save reunions until they were back in Konoha. Sakura motioned them all forward.

"Follow me." Sakura smiled as Kiba fell into the spot on her left and Hinata and Shino fell behind their three charges. She no longer had to give many orders, they had been working together for a little over half a year, and she found that they all worked well together. That might have been because her three team mates had once been a team, but Sakura was still glad that she didn't have to give them many orders for them to understand. Sakura took off again, flying into the trees, scanning the surrounding for and enemies. Suddenly Naruto gave a sharp intake.

"Now I remember! That's Akamaru! Kiba, is that really you?" Sakura winced, she just wanted to get back, her entire team was probably more than tired. She really would have to talk to Tsunade about it all. Kiba look towards Sakura, silently asking if he could respond, knowing she wanted to wait. Sakura sighed and nodded her head. Akamaru staying in Kiba's position while Kiba moved back until he was running alongside Naruto.

"Ya, it's me."

"Wow! I never thought you'd join ANBU! It's so great to see you."

"Ya, it's good to see you too Naruto. Hey Kakashi, Sasuke." Sasuke remained silent, merely nodding. Kakashi waved once.

"Yo."

"So what took you so long Naruto, I could have sword you said something like 'It'll only take me a year, you'll see.' right?" Naruto sighed.

"Ya, well, Orochimaru turned out to be harder to track down than I had thought. We only barely got Sasuke out. I couldn't kill the bastard though, he's still alive and kicking unfortunately. But Sasuke does have some good news for baa-chan. Right Sasuke?"

"Hn." Sakura wondered what news they had, hopefully it was something good, because the Sound attacks were getting worse. Sakura looked back and noticed Hinata staring at Naruto, no doubt a blush beneath her mask. Poor girl, she was probably nervous as hell. They were almost at Konoha now.

"So who else is here? Do I know anyone else?" Kiba looked up at Sakura, who nodded her head slightly, not answering would only make him more troublesome. Besides, they were only a few minutes away and nobody was around them as far as she could tell.

"Well, there's Shino and Hinata-"

"Hinata?" Naruto looked back at the smallest of the cloak clad ANBU members, she gave a small wave.

"H-hello Naruto-kun." Sakura smiled, Hinata's stutter was almost gone, she usually didn't even had one unless she was nervous or intimidated. Naruto grinned at Hinata and waved back then he turned to Shino and waved at him too. Shino gave a curt nod. Watching the gates of Konoha come into view.

"So who's your leader Kiba?" Sakura sighed, wishing he hadn't asked, she wasn't sure if she would face them yet. Shino sped forward and responded to Naruto's question as he past.

"No one you know." Sakura smiled and nodded to Shino in thanks as he sped ahead, probably eager to get there first. What he said was true, none of them knew her anymore. She was no longer weak, and she had changed, grown up, become hardened to the world. Naruto huffed, obviously not liking the way Shino had answered him. And then they were in Konoha. The guard at the gate nodded to them.

"The Hokage wants you to bring them up to her and report." Sakura nodded, then turned to her three team members.

"You can go now, hopefully we won't get another mission tonight, but just in case I'd get to sleep as soon as you get in." Kiba laughed as he took off his mask and Akamaru woofed and rubbed against Sakura. Sakura absently petted the dog's head before nodded curtly.

"You three, follow me." Naruto grumbled.

"Sheesh, what a hard ass, what's eating her?" Hinata gasped.

"N-Naruto-kun! Don't say that!" Naruto shrugged.

"Fine, I guess I'll catch up with everyone tomorrow right?" Hinata nodded as did Kiba, Shino shrugged, then all three nodded at Sakura before disappearing. Sakura sighed and led the three of them into Tsunade's office. Sakura bowed once Tsunade looked up. Tsunade smiled, a glint in her eye when the door closed behind all four of them.

"What's the matter captain, you didn't like my mission?" Sakura snorted again.

"Hardly Hokage-sama. I find your sadistic humour as funny as I always do." Tsunade laughed and Naruto stepped forward.  
"Baa-chan, how come you let her talk to you like that but you hit me when I talk to you?" Tsunade got up and hit Naruto over the head.

"Because unlike you baka, she doesn't call me old. Isn't that right Sakura?" There was a glint in her eye and Sakura sighed. Really, it was almost better when her former sensei was drunk, at least then she wasn't so malicious. Naruto turned wide eyes to Sakura.

"Baa-chan, what are you talking about? That's not Sakura!" Tsunade hit him again, Sakura sighed. Then she pulled off her black hood and took off her ANBU mask, shooting a glare at Tsunade before frowning at Naruto.

"And why, may I ask Naruto, could it not be me?" Naruto gaped, looking like a fish, Kakashi looked surprised and Sasuke frowned.

"B-because you're _Sakura_! The Sakura I know would never want to be a part of ANBU, let alone make it in." Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. Then scoffed.

"That was four years ago Naruto, lots can change in that amount of time." Sasuke suddenly spoke up, the frown still on his face.

"But Shino said you were no one we knew." Sakura glanced at him, nodding slowly.

"I am." He looked slightly taken back, Kakashi frowned, Naruto just looked puzzled. Tsunade sighed.

"Really Sakura, you're no fun."

"That reminds me Hokage-sama, Naruto claims that Sasuke has information regarding Orochimaru." Tsunade snapped to attention and looked inquiringly at Sasuke.

"You do?" Sasuke nodded his head slowly.

"Good. Spit it out then." Sasuke frowned, looking at Sakura. Tsunade noticed his look.

"Speak up already Sasuke, I assure you, everyone in this room can hear what you have to say, and I'm assuming that both Naruto and Kakashi already know this information." Sasuke nodded.

"Very well. You may recall that Orochimaru lost the use of his hands." Tsunade snorted.

"We know this, but it no longer matters, he switched bodies already, remember, so he has the use of his hands again." Sasuke shook his head.

"Yes, he switched bodies, but apparently whatever was done to him slowly started to happen again. As of now, Orochimaru had once again lost the use of his arms. Which means he's probably going to come after you since only you know the Genesis of Rebirth jutsu." Tsunade swore, Sakura tensed. Kakashi looked wary.

"Hokage-dono, you _are _the only one that knows that jutsu correct." Tsunade sighed and turned to Sakura.

"No. Sakura also knows the technique." Sakura sighed and leaned up against the wall, raising a hand to massage the back of her neck. Naruto gasped.

"Sakura-chan! What is _that_!?" Sakura frowned to look where he was pointing. She looked at the only amount of exposed skin and smiled at her tattoo, it wasn't her ANBU tattoo, it was a tattoo she had decided to get. It was a cherry blossom, gone in black. Sakura had other tattoos on her body as well, on three different parts of her body, for three people. Three people her carelessness had killed.

"It's a tattoo Naruto." Naruto sputtered.

"But why do you have one? You're not old enough to get one!" Sakura frowned.

"There isn't an age for getting tattoos Naruto-chan."

"B-but, you _can't _have a tattoo." Tsunade snorted.

"Please, if you're that upset about just that part of it then you don't want to see her other ones." Naruto gaped.

"_Part_!? _Others_!?! What are you talking about baa-chan!?" Naruto yelped as Tsunade hit him again. Sakura sighed. She needed sleep, she couldn't keep up the appearance of being cool, her nerves were shot.

"Well. I'm going now Hokage-sama, I'll get the reports to you tomorrow. Goodnight." Tsunade nodded.

"Goodnight, tell the rest of your team that you have the next day off, you deserve it." Sakura nodded tiredly.

"I trust the information we received from them was at least somewhat helpful." Tsunade sighed.

"Not as helpful as I had hoped, everything they wrote down we already know. There was one thing however." Sakura looked up. She was pissed that their week long mission had only produced one thing, it hadn't been an easy mission.

"What was it?" Tsunade made a shooing motion.

"I'll tell you in a day, I'm planning on sending your team anyways, don't worry about it." Sakura nodded and left, smiling at the three people she hadn't seen in years.

* * *

Sasuke watched her leave. She looked good. Her pink hair was longer, mid back, and strength radiated off of her. The fact that she was in ANBU and a captain no less surprised him, and made him realize that he had missed her while he was away. To see that she had grown made him happy, she would probably make a good wife. He needed to restart his clan again after he defeated Itachi, and Sakura was looking like a good choice. Kakashi sighed once Sakura had left. 

"She's changed." Sasuke frowned, Kakashi didn't exactly sound happy about it. Tsunade sighed and sat down behind her desk.

"What did you expect Kakashi? She was left all alone, did you honestly expect her to just be okay?" Kakashi shuffled his feet a little.

"No, but I was expecting someone…weaker, and I especially didn't expect her to have learned that particular lesson." Tsunade sighed. Naruto frowned, as did Sasuke.

"What lesson baa-chan?" Tsunade scowled at Naruto.

"The lesson of being responsible for others and having them fie on you." Naruto frowned.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade sighed.

"Sakura led another squad of people before she led her current one. They were sent on an S class mission and everyone else on her team died. Admittedly there wasn't much she could have done to stop their deaths but she blames herself anyway." Kakashi sighed, Sasuke spoke up.

"That's why caring is a weakness." Tsunade glare at the young Uchiha.

"No, it's not. And I assure you, Sakura is anything but weak, she didn't get to where she is now without working for it. The team she leads is one of the best, don't underestimate her, it'll get you killed." Sasuke frowned but nodded. Tsunade groaned.

"Sasuke…I've decided to give you a second chance, but if you do anything suspicious or disobey any of my orders you're gone, am I clear?" Sasuke snorted.

"Yes."

"Good. You're all dismissed, get some sleep, I'm sure people will want to see you all tomorrow." They all nodded and left, happy to be back.

* * *

Sakura wiped the sleep from her eyes as she headed into the bar, being pulled my Ino. She greeted everyone there, noticing that Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi were absent. Hinata looked up from her conversation with Tenten to blush slightly. 

"N-Naruto-kun." Sakura looked up and saw all three of them. She warred within herself, she was supposed to be a Shinobi, she wasn't supposed to let emotions show, hadn't she spent the last four years training for that soul purpose? But seeing all three of them she couldn't do it, she could stop herself from running over to them and embracing each one, telling them how much she missed them. Naruto looked the most pleased, hugging her back, Kakashi looked relieved and Sasuke looked slightly startled by the hug but indifferent. When Sakura turned around she say Shikamaru nudge Ino.

"I win! You have to pay for the meal the next time we all go out and eat." Ino looked unhappy.

"Damn it all Sakura! Why couldn't you have waited until later on today to snap?" Sakura glared.

"Why are you taking bets on me?" Shikamaru shrugged.

"Cause it's fun, besides, I just won, you should be glad people know you so well." Sakura hissed then looked around the bar until she spotted the right person and call out loudly to him.

"Hey Genma, is that bet on Shikamaru and Temari still open?" Shikamaru looked up.

"What bet?" Genma laughed.

"Sure is, you wanna join in?" Sakura smiled evilly at Shikamaru.

"I want two months from now." Genma laughed and nodded.

"you got it!" Shikamaru glared at Sakura, she just smiled back. Hinata smiled a little.

"It's only f-fair Shikamaru-chan."

"Man, women are so troublesome." Everyone laughed and Sakura smiled when Naruto and Sasuke joined in on the conversation and Kakashi went to join his group of friends.

* * *

"Come in." Sakura sighed and entered the room, followed by her three team members. Kiba seemed to be sporting a hangover from drinking too much and Sakura was glad he didn't let it show, otherwise Tsunade wouldn't have been too happy. They all bowed. 

"Hokage-dono."

"Hokage-sama."

"Good, you're here. The information you received was for the most part unhelpful, however there was one bit of information that seems promising. Apparently Orochimaru has been recruiting quietly, every missing nin that thinks he has a shot at taking over for good is flocking to him. However, there's an envoy that takes them to Orochimaru every month. Apparently there's going to be a good number of missing nin waiting at the meeting point to be taken to the snake. I want you to go to the designated place and kill them all. The less people Orochimaru gathers to his side the better." Sakura nodded slowly. Not like the part where there were a _good number_ of missing nins to take care of.

"Do we know the location at least?" Tsunade shook her head.

"No, but we do know of several missing nins who are going to go there, you'll have to get the information from them one way or another." Sakura nodded.

"Could everyone but Sakura leave for a moment please." Sakura frowned along with the others, but they left quietly.

"What is it?" Tsunade sighed.

"I know that this is an important mission, which is the reason I'm giving you the option to say no." Sakura frowned, not liking where Tsunade was going.

"Say no to what?"

"I need someone who knows them to watch Naruto and especially Sasuke. I'm hoping that you can take them on your mission, they'll be of help, and I need someone who can tell to see how far they've come, and I need you to assess if Sasuke is safe or if he's going to be a hazard to Konoha. However, if you feel that it will get in the way of your mission you don't have to take them." Sakura sighed and massaged her head.

"You want me to keep an eye on them, to see how they react to being back in the line of fire?" Tsunade nodded. Sakura thought.

"The extra man power will help, but that's assuming they can take orders from me, they view me as weak, and they're both hard-headed. But, you're right, someone who knows them needs to assess them, especially Sasuke. But the only way I'm taking them is if they understand that I'm leading, and they also understand that they have to take orders from the rest of my team if I'm not there. They'd better not go off half-cocked, or it'll cause problems." Tsunade nodded.

"I'll make sure they know, if they don't you can do whatever it takes to complete your mission, that includes killing them." Sakura winced but nodded.

"Very well. When do we leave?"

"I'll have to brief the two of them, so you'll leave in one hour, tell the rest of your team." Sakura nodded.

"Right." She bowed and left, finding the rest of her team waiting for her with puzzled faces. Sakura groaned and leant against the wall.

"The Hokage wants to put Naruto and Sasuke with us for this mission." Hinata looked a little worried and Kiba frowned but it was Shino who spoke up.

"Why would she send the two of them with us on an ANBU mission?" Sakura took a deep breath and the released it.

"In truth? She wants me to assess them, plus we could probably use the extra man power on this one, even though they aren't ANBU they'll still be able to help somewhat. But…if they get in our way I have the authorization to do whatever is necessary to complete the mission. So if they're getting in your way let me know and I'll send them back. If you're uncomfortable with this tell me now and I'll inform the Hokage that I've changed my mind. The mission comes first." Everyone thought about it for a while before they all nodded they're heads.

"It'll be fine, just so long as they know that they're not superior." Sakura nodded.

"They will. We leave in one hour, go get ready."

* * *

Sasuke nodded to Naruto as they both entered Tsunade's office. He wondered what she wanted. 

"Good, you're both here. I'm sending you both on a mission with Sakura." Naruto literally bounced in joy.

"Stop that. Before I'm letting you go there are a few things you need to understand. This is an S class mission, if you have any fears about going back out now. Secondly, Sakura is the squad leader, you are under her command. That means you take orders from her, I don't even care if it's an order to wash the dishes, you do it, do you hear me. Because if you even toe the line of command she has the authority to do whatever it is that's necessary to complete her mission. That includes killing you for your information. And let me tell you, she will do it if you put her team in danger, and it'll be easy for her. You're going to follow her no matter what, do you understand?" Sasuke nodded and so did Naruto, who was solemn for once.

"Hai."

"Good. You're going to be impersonating ANBU members, your uniforms are on the table over there, meet everyone else at the gate in half an hour. You're dismissed." Sasuke and Naruto left after picking up their new uniforms.

* * *

Sakura watched the two ANBU clad members come walking up to her squad. It was easy to tell who was who, Naruto had already taken the time to paint red whiskers on his mask, Sasuke hadn't done anything to his. Sakura nodded tot hem, and then in a split second she drew her katana from under her cloak and held it up against both of their throats. 

"If you do anything, and I do mean _anything _to put my team in jeopardy I'll kill you, it doesn't matter if you're my friends or not, my team and my mission comes first, am I clear?" Naruto looked scared even behind his mask, Sasuke looked neutral.

"H-hai Sakura-chan! We won't do anything I swear!" Sakura nodded and sheathed her katana.

"Good. Let's go, we don't have much time to find our information."

* * *

"Is that the missing nin?" Sakura looked over to where Shino was directing. 

"Looks like it." Sakura sighed and took off her cloak and pulled out her small pack. Hinata stepped forward.

"Ne. Sakura-chan, you don't have to do it this time, I can go if you want." Sakura smiled as she pulled off her mask but shook her head.

"No thanks. Besides, the last time you went we had to pull the men off you because they were so attracted." Hinata blushed and Kiba scoffed.

"Like it's any better when you go." Sakura smirked.

"Of course it is, I dimly recall having two men less than Hinata. Therefore it is best if I go." Even Shino snorted.

"Right. At least Hinata will let us help her. Stupid feminist pride." Sakura scoffed.

"Why would I need your help when I'm more than capable of dealing with a few drunks. Now, if you're all done I can go and change, unless you'd rather have Naruto go, although I'd doubt he'd get very far." Kiba grumbled and Hinata blushed, Naruto looked confused, as did Sasuke.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, what are you talking about?" Sakura turned to look at Naruto and smiled.

"Nothing Naruto, just talking, sorry to have confused you." With that she slipped behind some trees to change.

* * *

Sasuke sighed, he knew that the only reason he and Naruto were on the mission was because Tsunade thought that the only person qualified to tell if he was a threat to Konoha was Sakura. She was probably supposed to assess them both too. It was a tiresome mission to begin with. He understood that killing off a few missing nin before they could boost Orochimaru's forces was good, but without the location it seemed pointless. A rusting sounded and Sakura walked out of the bushes she had gone into to change. Sasuke's mouth dropped for a moment before he forcefully closed it. 

She was stunning. She was wearing a short black dress that revealed the curves she had obtained since he last saw her. Black knee-high boots adorned her feet. Her pink hair was swept up with a few errant strands framing her face. And her cherry blossom tattoos that started just above her right breast and lazily bade their way across her shoulder and down her arm made her look even more exquisite. There were seven cherry blossoms in total, each on probably two inches in diameter. She also had think black liner on her eyelids, making her jade green eyes stand out even more. She was no longer the little twelve year old girl who had begged him to stay, and he found himself wanting the stunning beauty in front of him. Naruto piped up suddenly.

"S-Sakura? How'd you turn pretty all of a sudden?" Sasuke was surprised when Hinata hit him lightly.

"N-Naruto-kun! Don't b-be so rude! Sakura-c-chan has always been p-pretty." Sakura smiled at the young woman.

"Thank-you Hinata. But really it's all in the tattoos." Kiba snorted and Sakura winked at them all before meandering her way into the bar at the outskirts of the small town. She sat down gracefully beside the missing nin they were targeting and Sasuke hated the way the man eyes her. Then he felt anger at himself. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, it was supposed to be her wanting him, not the other way around. How could she have changed so much? He had been expecting some weak Shinobi that would welcome him with open arms and beg him to let her into his life. He didn't like that fact that it wasn't how he had planned.

* * *

Sakura sighed to herself as she downed another glass of sake, using chakra to eliminate the alcohol from her system. The stupid missing nin held hid liquor well however, because they were already on they third bottle of sake and he barely looked more than a little buzzed. Maybe it was time fore her to forcefully drag the information out. Sakura smiled, acting drunk as she leaned towards the man, allowing him to slightly see down her dress 

"You're quite honey, but -hic- you don't have enough danger for my tastes." The man scoffed.

"Danger? What, working with Orochimaru isn't dangerous enough for you?" Sakura gasped lightly and brushed up against him.

"You work for Orochimaru? Really?" He was looking at her chest, hardly thinking when he answered her.

"I will by tomorrow night." Sakura pressed a little closer, noticing the dirty looks other men gave the missing nin.

"What do you mean?" He licked his lips before leaning in to whisper.

"We meet by the old ruins near here you see, and then we get taken to him, very dangerous you understand." Sakura purred leaning in so she could whisper in his ear.

"It does sound dangerous, especially since the ruins near here are huge, you'd get lost!" He smirked.

"Well now little girl, it isn't that hard to find the only still standing building is it?" Sakura smiled at him and let her hair down, the sign that she was done and had what they needed. On queue Kiba stormed into the bar looking livid. He pointed at her and snarled.

"You! Just what do you think you're doing here?" Sakura pouted.

"Just having fun." Kiba growled and pulled her away from the bar before glowering at the missing nin.

"Stay away from my fiancé, you hear me!" The missing nin obviously didn't want a fight so he nodded quickly, Sakura smirked inwardly, but outwardly she pouted, looking unhappy.

"Let's go." Kiba dragged her from the bar and back into the forested area where he released her and smiled.

"Took you long enough, I was beginning to doubt your abilities as a Kunoichi." Sakura glared at him and went to pick up her uniform. While she went to change she told the others of the location they were headed for. Once her mask and cloak were back on the headed out.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she waited in hiding, several missing nin had already come, but she could sense more on their way so she waited, as did her team. After another half hour of waiting she saw someone from Sound approach the amassed killers and knew it was time to attack. With a nod of her head several exploding tags went off, and then her team attacked. There were four missing nins to each person and they weren't the greatest odds but Sakura and her team had been in worse situations before. Using her super human strength Sakura punched one of the missing nins in his chest, effectively crushing his vital organs and killing him. The other three around her warily stepped back but Sakura punched the ground and smiled as the second one went down. Deflecting the weapons thrown at her with a kunai she launched herself forward. 

Sweat dripped down her neck as Sakura warily circled her opponent. He was smart, probably one of the better missing nins she'd faced over the years. Sakura took a quick glance around her to see that Naruto was still facing two missing nins, Sasuke one, Shino and Kiba one and Hinata two. Sakura hissed as a kunai cut her shoulder. She already had a few painful cuts on her body and her chakra was half depleted. A faint rustling and the faintest sense of chakra drew her gaze into the forest beside the ruins. Four Akatsuki members leapt from the trees and into the ruins.

Sakura hissed, they needed to leave, they were already tired and none of them was up to facing Akatsuki at the moment. Sakura growled and doubled her efforts to kill the missing nin in front of her. She didn't have to do anything however because a kunai came from behind the man and killed him. Sakura looked up to see that one of the Akatsuki members had thrown it. Perhaps they too wanted to eliminate Orochimaru's ranks. Underneath the straw hat and the black cloak with red clouds was blue skin. So, it was Kisame the missing nin from Hidden Mist. He then moved onto kill other missing nin. Sakura then noticed that the other missing nin were all killed, the four Akatsuki members stood in front of her team. Suddenly Sasuke hissed.

"Itachi!" Sakura groaned, she couldn't deal with this, she could feel the Akatsuki members gathering chakra, they weren't in a position to fight.

"Retreat! Now!" Everyone obeyed her orders, everyone but Sasuke. He rushed forward to engage his brother. Sakura hissed in annoyance and rushed to intercept the fool. She gathered a small amount of chakra into her fist and punched him backwards.

"Damn it Uchiha, I said retreat!" Sasuke got up and narrowed his eyes.

"No! Get out of my way!" He rushed her, obviously not caring if he had to go through her to get to his brother who was standing amusedly behind her. One of the Akatsuki members spoke up.

"We should kill them all, yeah?"

"Hn." Apparently that meant yes because the all launched themselves at her team. Sakura quickly slammed her fist into the ground and caused a large disturbance. There was a ten foot gap between them and her, Sakura turned back to Sasuke who was getting ready to jump over and attack. Sakura grabbed him and hit him on the neck at his pressure point to cause him to collapse unconscious. Sakura threw him backwards to Kiba while grabbing her kunai to parry an attack from Itachi.

"Retreat! Now! Get out of here, don't engage!" They all took off, Naruto stopped though, looking back at her. She grunted in pain as she dodged Kisame's Samehada only to take Itachi's kunai in the stomach.

"Damn it all Naruto, go, if you don't leave I'll kill you myself!" Naruto still looked uncertain but Shino took charge and grabbed him before taking off.

"Do you two need help to deal with her yeah?" Sakura kicked the ground with her foot, causing a large hole to appear and dirt to fill the air. She leapt back, hoping to get out before she was killed. But one of them appeared in front of her and she saw the red Mangekyo spinning, drawing her into some unknown world. Sakura panicked, she needed to break the connection but her eyes wouldn't obey her. Sakura used chakra to momentarily blind herself, breaking the connection, but it was already too late.

"Run…" And then she was lost in darkness, not pain, just blackness, unconsciousness, a form of sleep.

"We should go after them yeah?" Itachi looked up from the ANBU member that had collapsed against him, to look at Deidara. He shook his head.

"Our orders were to kill the missing nins, nothing else." Deidara sighed and Kisame smirked.

"What are you going to do with the kunoichi there?" Itachi smirked.

"Bait." Kisame nodded and Deidara's partner, Tobi nodded but Deidara frowned.

"She'll just be trouble yeah? She's ANBU after all, besides, they won't trade the Kyuubi container just for her back yeah." Itachi shrugged.

"Hn." Never-the-less he threw her over his shoulder and leapt into the trees, racing ahead at an almost unmatchable pace. Kisame sighed along with the others and followed him.

* * *

Sasuke came to slowly, and when he did he leapt up. 

"Where is he?" He looked around with wild eyes and only saw subdued faces. Then he remember what Sakura had done.

"Damn her." He was suddenly pinned to a tree by Kiba.

"Shut up. She saved your life, and she wouldn't have had to if you could follow orders." Sasuke hissed.

"My only goal is to kill that man, why on earth would I not when he's right in front of me?" Shino came up and pulled Kiba off of him. Sasuke glared at them.

"Well where is she, she has a lot to answer for." A kunai struck the tree he was leaning against, barely missing his head. It had come from Hinata.

"Damn you! She's either dead or captured because of you! You're the one who has a lot to answer for!" Sasuke was taken back, he had never seen Hinata angry before, she was actually quite formidable. But he just sneered.

"Well it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't stopped me. So let's go after them." Shino spoke up.

"No." Sasuke glared at him.

"Why not?!"

"Because we're following orders." Sasuke growled and rushed forward.

"Well I'm not." But he didn't move, he couldn't, his body wasn't listening to him.

"What-"

"My bugs have paralyzed you for the time being, we can't have you causing any more problems until we get to Konoha." Sasuke glared at Shino, wishing the bug master had been elsewhere at that time.

* * *

Tsunade looked away from where Shikamaru was briefing her on his teams mission to where Shino stood in her doorway with the rest of Sakura's team behind him. Tsunade felt her blood go cold. 

"Where's Sakura?" Everyone piled into her office.

"Sakura was either killed or taken hostage by members of the Akatsuki while guarding our retreat."

"How?" It came out as a whisper but everyone heard her. Shino's eyes flashed dangerously.

"They attacked the same missing nins we did, there were four of them, Uchiha Itachi was one of them. Sasuke attempted to engage even though Sakura ordered for a retreat, she had to render him unconscious, but by then the Akatsuki were attacking, she blocked them and ordered us to take Sasuke and leave. Last we saw she was fighting both Itachi and Kisame." Tsunade closed her eyes.

"I want Sasuke but in a holding cell for directly disobeying a superiors orders, then I want Shino, Kiba, and Hinata to go with Shikamaru's team to see if you can find Sakura's body. If you don't find her we'll assume she's been kidnapped." Everyone nodded but Shikamaru frowned.

"Pardon me Hokage-dono, but what use would they have for taking her?" Shino spoke up.

"Naruto was with us and he didn't want to leave her, they've probably correctly assumed that they are close and they'll try to use her as bait." Shikamaru nodded slowly.

"It makes sense, but surely they'll realise we can't trade for her." Tsunade sighed and rubbed her eyes wearily. Hinata spoke up.

"Sakura has pink hair." Everyone turned to stare at her like she was crazy. Hinata looked a little worried.

"I just meant that she's easily distinguishable by her hair for who she is, and everyone knows that her healing skills rival even yours Hokage-dono, which means that they'll probably find her useful, especially if Itachi's eyesight is fading." Tsunade nodded.

"You're right, still, I want you to hurry, go to the hospital to get any necessary healing after you bring Sasuke to a holding cell. Bring Naruto with you, he'll be safer surrounded by ANBU than running off by himself." They all bowed, once her office was empty Tsunade whispered into the silence.

"Be strong Sakura, please live."

* * *

Sakura woke with a start, gasping for air. It was bright out and the sunlight streaming in through a window hurt her eyes. She had to close them, wincing in pain. Slowly she opened her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light, then she looked around. She was in a small room, she was lying on her side on a bed and the only other furniture in the room was a bare side table and a wooden chair. Sakura's hands were tied behind her back, palms facing outward so she couldn't perform any jutsu. Not that it would matter, they had obviously drained her of her chakra, she could barely feel any at all. The door opened and Deidara stepped into the room with a bowl of rice and a glass of water. 

"Itachi-san says you need to eat yeah." Sakura glared at the man, hoping to burn a hole through his head with her eyes. She would have used her foot to kick a hole through his heart but she didn't even have enough chakra to make an indent, not even a bruise. Deidara put the food down on the side table.

"Well eat up yeah?" Sakura hissed.

"What are you stupid? Even if I wanted to eat it I can't, seeing as how I'm tied up." Sakura didn't care about pissing him off, she wasn't going to do anything for them, she was a Shinobi, and every Shinobi would die for his or her village at one point. Sakura wasn't afraid of death. Deidara sighed.

"I guess you're right yeah? Fine, but don't try anything funny yeah." Sakura merely nodded, it wasn't like there was much she could do. She noticed that she was still in her ANBU uniform but the white vest was gone, and all her weapons had been taken away. Deidara walked towards her and pulled her up into a sitting position and then went to untie her hands. Just then Itachi walked in and his eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing?" Deidara jumped a little.

"Untying her so that she can eat yeah?" Itachi glared at Deidara.

"I didn't say that you could untie her, get out."

"If you say so yeah." It seemed even the other Akatsuki members feared Itachi, Sakura snorted and glared at her captor.

"If you wanted me to starve to death then why make him bring food in the first place?"

Itachi glared at the pink haired woman. She was in no position to be talking like that, yet there she was, either she had no fear of death or she was just stupid. Itachi could see a tattoo of a cherry blossom on her shoulder, it suited her, even if it was just done in black. Still, she bothered him. She should have been cowering in fear, perhaps he would use his Sharingan on her. Itachi smirked and leaned in so his face was close to hers.

"I suggest you keep your comments to yourself unless you want to feel more pain then your little brain can think of." The girl hissed at him.

"I'm not afraid of you." He smirked.

"Poor little kunoichi, you don't even realize that there are worse things than death." He activated his Mangekyo and smirked. Then he frowned when there wasn't a connection, her eyes went white for a moment and then went back to their normal jade green and she slumped over.

"What did you do?" She smirked but it looked pained.

"You need to make a connection through the eyes, if I'm blind you can't make the connection." Itachi frowned.

"You are not blind." She shook her head.

"No, but luckily it only takes the barest amount of chakra to cause a short blindness, therefore rendering your Mangekyo useless." Itachi frowned, and then smirked.

"Maybe it worked once, but now you have absolutely no chakra left, it won't work a second time. Too bad for you kunoichi." She glared at him.

"Sakura." He frowned, what was she on about now?

"What?"

"My name is Sakura, not kunoichi. I realize that it takes a great amount of brain power to remember my name, but please try." Itachi hissed and threw her up against the wall.

"I'll teach you to talk back." He used his Mangekyo and smiled when Sakura slumped against the wall and let out a crying sound while being tortured in the dimension Itachi had created just for the purpose of pain.

* * *

Okay, well tell me what you think please! hope you liked it! 


	2. Awaken

**Darkness Within**

**-Awaken-**

I would like to thank everyone that reviewed. I replied to all the reviews via the link, so check you're in-boxes! And if you reviewed anonymously, then I've replied at the end of this chapter. Hope you like this chapter! Enjoy.

* * *

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, she was in pain, she felt like she'd been killed hundreds of times, like she'd be stabbed too many times to count. She had. At least, it had felt like it. She knew that she was fine, her body was in perfect health, except for having almost no chakra. But she _felt _like she was barely alive, it hurt to move, it was all in her mind she knew, but that didn't make the pain any more bearable or any less painful.

The door opened but Sakura couldn't find the energy to mover her head to see who it was. She realized belatedly that she was on her back and that her hands were untied, not that it mattered, she couldn't even move a finger let alone get up the energy to perform any kind of jutsu.

Deidara walked into her line of sight, he looked slightly shocked. Maybe she looked as terrible as she felt.

"You're awake yeah?" Was he stupid, she thought that the Akatsuki were smart, maybe it was just their leader and Itachi, that or he was messing with her already bruised mind. It wouldn't have surprise her. She nodded her head, barely, it would have hurt more to speak, so she went for the less painful rout. She probably could have done nothing, but in her condition the last thing she wanted was to piss him off.

"That's surprising, yeah. You weren't supposed to wake up for another four hours, yeah. Itachi won't be happy yeah." Sakura frowned, or, tired to, it probably came out as more of a grimace, at least moving her eyebrows didn't hurt. Why would it matter that she had woken up early? Her tired brain tried to work, tried to understand, she knew she should have understood but she couldn't, it took too much effort. Maybe Itachi had gone easy on her? No, he was a heartless killer, he wouldn't have gone easy on her, no, there had to be something she was missing.

But why would she have woken up four hours early? It had felt like years, but in reality she had only been out of it for four hours. Wait, four hours, four hours early waking up. The Mangekyo was supposed to give you pain for eight hours wasn't it? But she had woken up four hours early. She had only been tortured for half of the time. _Had _Itachi really gone easy on her for some reason? No, impossible, then why did it only affect her for half of the time? Sakura hurt, and she was tired, her brain couldn't form any more answers, instead she filled the information away and went to sleep, hoping to never have to see another red cloud on black again.

* * *

Itachi frowned at the knock on his door. Nobody knocked on his door unless it was an emergency. Sighing, he put the scroll he had been reading down and got up to answer it. Deidara stood on the other side, looking slightly apprehensive.

"What do you want Deidara?"

"Well, I just thought I'd tell you that the girl woke up already yeah. Maybe you're loosing your touch, yeah." Itachi just glared at his fellow Akatsuki member, but his thoughts were chaotic.

She had woken up? Impossible, she should have been out for another four hours, no one ever woke up early. Why had she woken up? Did she do something he didn't know about? No, he would have seen it, so why had she woken up? Did her temporary blindness affect his Mangekyo? No, it had only lasted for a few seconds. So why? Itachi grit his teeth, he would have to go and inspect her. He nodded to Deidara and swept out of his room, thankful for his thick Akatsuki cloak because the large house in Snow was daftly.

When he walked into the small room that he had put the girl -Sakura she had said?- into he saw that she wasn't awake. What had Deidara been on about? But upon closer investigation she looked rather peaceful, not in pain. Maybe she really had broken free somehow. But that was impossible, no one could break free, so why had she? She twitched in her sleep, muttering something, curious, Itachi leaned forward to hear better.

"…no, no more…red, bad clouds…" What on earth was wrong with her? She was dreaming about clouds? Itachi frowned, she shouldn't be dreaming about clouds, she should have been enduring endless pain for another four hours, not having fluffy dreams!

Itachi leaned forward, intent on shaking her awake and giving her nightmares, but suddenly she moved, her still booted foot came up and hit him. Itachi growled to himself, damn ANBU members and their intense self survival instincts. The girl was asleep and still she attacked him. There hadn't been any force behind it, she didn't have enough energy or chakra, and she probably wouldn't even have been able to move if she had been awake. But it had hurt. Itachi frowned and prodded his arm where her boot had struck, it was bleeding. A very shallow cut, but it was still a cut. A boot shouldn't have been able to make a cut, especially not with that kind of pathetic force behind it.

Moving to the foot of the bed Itachi took a careful look at her boots. Clever. Either ANBU had changed their outfits since he had left or she had customized her own boots. Probably the later of the two. Cleaver little kunoichi. She had embedded a small blade in her boot. It curved around the entire toe of her boot and barely stuck out so that it wouldn't be detected until she used it. Itachi guessed that it had more power when she used a chakra empowered kick, that or she put poison on it before a battle.

Lucky for him there had been no poison on it, but Itachi wasn't about to leave any kind of weapon in her care. He carefully removed her boots, inspecting them for more hidden surprises, when he found no more he set her boots down, wondering if the girl had any more hidden weapons. His vision caught on her claves. The ANBU pants stopped at mid-calf, so that they just went into her boots. Her legs were shapely and subtly muscled, there was also the odd scar, but that wasn't what had caught his attention.

Cherry blossom trees, one on each leg. The trunk started at her outside ankle and then the tree grew from there, it's branches slowly wrapping around her leg, the tree stopped around mid-calf. One tattooed Sakura tree on each leg, both in black. Itachi looked up to her shoulder where a cherry blossom was tattooed onto her skin. Did the tattoos have some meaning to her or where they just for decoration? Itachi had to admit, they suited her, made her look exotic in a sense, ot to mention the tattoos drew the eye, and they seemed to be made just for her.

Itachi shook his head, he had come into her room to see if what Deidara had said was true, not to check out the captive. What was wrong with him? Maybe he was more tired than he though, maybe that was why his Mangekyo had only worked for half of the time, perhaps he was just too tired. Frowning once again Itachi grabbed the boots he had taken off the girl and left the room, forcing himself to not look back at her. Once in his own room Itachi threw the boots in a corner and decided to turn in early, hating the fact that his thoughts kept on circling back to black cherry blossom trees.

* * *

Sasuke glowered at the guard that passed by his cell. He had been imprisoned! Everyone in Konoha was against him, they were all on Itachi's side. No matter, he didn't need them. His only goal was to kill Itachi and then re-establish his clan. He didn't need Konoha for either. Sure, he had planned to raise his children in Konoha, but he probably still could. Once he killed Itachi and brought Sakura back the Hokage would be so overjoyed to have her apprentice back that she'd let him stay.

Sasuke smirked. People were so easy to twist around his finger, they were just so easy to manipulate. And even if the Hokage had worries about him, he could get Sakura to plead for him. Sasuke doubted that the Hokage could deny Sakura anything. Sakura would be the easiest to twine around his finger, all he had to do was say he needed her and he had no doubt that she'd once again become that weak little girl that hung off his every word. It would be so easy, just like getting out of is cell could be easy.

He only had to wait until the guards changed shifts and he'd be gone. He didn't really want to kill anyone, coming back to Konoha after that would be impossible, which was why he was waiting to go. In the few second window that no one was patrolling outside of his cell he would escape, and then Itachi would pay.

* * *

Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Akamaru, Naruto and Shikamaru and his team were running through the forest. Running to the spot that they had last seen Sakura. Running against time, hoping that she was still alive.

Naruto was running ahead of the rest, speeding towards their destination. The others had stopped trying to keep up with him or slow him down near the beginning. He was past distraught, even Hinata was wary around him. Kiba almost felt sorry for the Akatsuki, Naruto was going to rip them apart, he'd never seen Naruto so angry.

Naruto was angry at himself for not protecting Sakura, he was angry at Akatsuki for taking his friends. But most of all he was angry at Sasuke. Sasuke's need for revenge had led to the whole disaster, Naruto was pissed. That Sasuke could just forget about everyone else and go straight for Itachi bothered him.

When he had gotten him back from Orochimaru Naruto had been so sure that he cared more about friendship than Itachi's death. Damn Sasuke and his revenge. And damn Itachi for causing Sasuke to be so cold, and then for taking Sakura. And damn himself for listening to Sakura and leaving, for not helping her.

* * *

Okay, so this chapter was shorter than the first one but what can I saw, I hope you liked it just the same! Thanks for reading, reviews appreciated!

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	3. Insanity

**Darkness Within**

**-Insanity-**

**Disclaimer: **So sorry I forgot to put this on the last two chapters (hits self on head) anyway, for this chapter, the previous two, and any others in the future I forget to put it on: I don't own Naruto…wish I did cause, well, obviously I'd be rich and I would know what was going to happen, but alas, I don't, so I content myself with playing make believe and sharing it with you. : )

Okay, so I felt kind of bad because my last chapter was so short. So, with the motivation of my reviewers I've slaved away (not really because I love writing this thing but hey) to get this next chapter out to you all. I'm happy to announce that it is MUCH longer than the last one, so read, enjoy, and then review out of the kindness of your hearts (and your want for more Itachi and Sakura of course!)

Thank-you to everyone that reviewed! Check your in-boxes! Thanks a bunch!

* * *

Sakura woke up reluctantly. She had dreamed of red clouds on black, it had been terrible. Curse her subconscious, maybe she had a masochistic subconscious? That might explain her dream, especially after she never wanted to see another red cloud on black again. But that was obviously the least of her worries. Her boots were gone, showing off the tattoos on her lower legs. Tattoos that were for remembrance, to always remind her. 

But they shouldn't have been showing, why were her boots gone? They had been there earlier. Why would they take her boots, she doubted that any of them cared at all as to whether or not she was uncomfortable sleeping with them on. No, there had to be a reason, they may have been mass murderers but they weren't insane, at least, not in the real sense of the word.

Maybe the big fish guy -Kisame- had taken them, maybe he had some kind of boot fetish, Sakura doubted that you could kill people with such relish without developing some kind of weird habit. She snorted at herself, just imagining Kisame come in and take her boots from her while she was sleeping was stupid. No, there had to be a real reason. Boots. Her boots. Why would- then it hit her. Her small blade, she had one on each boot, had one of them found her blades?

Great, they found them before she even remembered that they were there. What kind of Shinobi was she?

_Not a very good one obviously._

Shit. Now she was conversing with herself. She thought she had kicked that habit long ago. Now it was back, marvellous. Now she was going crazy, next thing she knew she'd be skipping around the Akatsuki compound singing with Itachi. Sakura snorted again, just imagining the scene. What was wrong with her?

_Several things but that's never really bothered you before._

Please no. She didn't want to be insane. Sakura wanted to be normal, normal people didn't talk with themselves. Normal people didn't have an inner evil side, but then again, normal people would be snivelling in the corner out of fear.

_One point for the crazy chick, you've got a one up on the normal Joes out there!_

Just ignore it, that was the best method, that was the method she had used to make the voice go away. Maybe her other half only responded to creepy killers? Maybe it would go away if she got away from Akatsuki?

But there was no time for that, Sakura had to devise a way to escape, she had to get away from Itachi, because, despite not being afraid of death, she still had an intolerance for pain.

_Ya, cause that makes sense, not afraid of death, but terrified of pain, what kind of ANBU are you?_

It made perfect sense she argued with herself, pain and death were different things, and she was a good ANBU, hadn't she proven herself time and time again?

Sakura scoffed. Who was she kidding? If she was really a good ANBU captain then her first team would still be alive, no, she wasn't qualified to be ANBU. She had even been captured, she had let Sasuke get out of hand, had let him endanger her team. She had to get away before Akatsuki before they made her do something like give away information, or worse, use her as bait for Naruto. No, she couldn't let that happen, Naruto would do it too, she doubted that even Tsunade would be able to stop him.

So it was up to her to stop it before it could even happen. Lucky for her, whoever had found the blades in her boots hadn't found anything else.

_Yeah! Kick their asses! Kill em! Knock em dead! Start with the fish man, blue clashes with our hair._

Maybe she should work on her other half first on second thought. Having a voice inside her head during battle would be annoying, and most likely distracting. No, she would deal with her insanity later. Besides, not all blues clashed with pink, wait, why was she even listening to the voice!?

* * *

The group of people out to find Sakura stopped at the last place they had all seen her. Kiba watched Akamaru sniff the ground, trying to pick up Sakura's scent. The dog then stopped and barked over to Kiba. The others turned their attention to him, wanting to know what Akamaru had found. 

"Akamaru says he found her sent, but it's faint and fading, we have to hurry before it disappears altogether. He also says that there are four other scents with her, those must be the Akatsuki members." Shikamaru nodded.

"All right, let's go. Everyone keep up, we'll be speeding up now. Jiro, I want you to summon one of your birds and send it back to Tsunade to tell her that we've picked up Sakura's scent." A young ninja, one of the one's on Shikamaru's team nodded his head, bit his thumb and then summoned a small raven. Shikamaru nodded.

"We're going on ahead, catch up when you're done." Jiro nodded and Shikamaru took off behind the others who were already on their way.

Sighing to himself Jiro re-opened the wound on his thumb and summoned another raven. The first one he sent off to the Hokage as ordered. The second one he turned to, looking solemn.

"Tell master Orochimaru that we've picked up the trail of the Hokage's apprentice, it looks like Akatsuki may have taken her to the Snow country."

The raven nodded and then took off. Jiro smiled to himself and then ran to catch up with the others, hoping that they would find the pink haired woman soon, because Orochimaru was not a patient person.

* * *

A knock on his door brought him out of his slight slumber, instantly he grabbed his cloak and answered it, already knowing who it was. Kisame stood on the other side, looking excited, the bloodlust rolled off him in waves. Itachi smirked to himself, but let nothing show on his face, it was a good thing the Akatsuki robe covered all but his eyes. 

"What is it Kisame?" Kisame smirked.

"Looks like you were right Itachi, there's a bunch of brats along with the Kyuubi container following the girl's scent, they're probably half a day's run away from us. You want me to get the others and then we can attack them?" Itachi shook his head.

"No. The Kyuubi container will be mine, Deidara and Tobi were just given a mission anyways. They're leaving as we speak. Once they're gone we'll wait for them to come to us." Kisame frowned.

"Not that that doesn't sound good, but we received a mission as well if you recall Itachi, and we're not supposed to attack any of the hidden villages. Leader just wants us to get the Kyuubi container, but there aren't supposed to be other casualties, at least not while they can still cause harm by retaliating."

Itachi glared at Kisame and mentally cursed their leader for laying down so many rules.

"Fine. We'll leave, but make sure that there is a trail for them to follow. If they happen to come upon us we can kill them and capture the Kyuubi container." Kisame smirked.

"True, and since we were on our way to complete our mission we couldn't let them interfere." Itachi nodded.

"Exactly. Get the girl. Oh, and Kisame, make sure she's bleeding, I hear dogs pick up on the scent of blood better than other scents. Not life threatening mind you, I don't need her slowing us down." Kisame smiled maliciously.

"Of course not Itachi, but I have been wondering what the pink haired maiden's scream would sound like."

And then he was gone down the hall, blood lust still rolling off in waves. It probably wouldn't have mattered if they killed the group right now and captured the Kyuubi container, but that would have been too easy. It had been a while since Itachi had had some fun, and leading a group of his little brother's friends to their deaths seemed liked fun to him.

Hopefully the entertaining thoughts of killing them would keep that fact that he had felt apprehensive at Kisame's comment about Sakura's scream at bay. Why would he care, he had ordered Kisame to harm her after all, no, she didn't matter. She was beautiful to be sure, but then again, most kunoichi were. So what if something in her jade green eyes drew him, she was only bait, and she was weak enough to allow herself to be captured, weak enough to sacrifice herself for others, no, she didn't matter.

* * *

Sakura smiled to herself when she finally pulled the tine wire out of the bottom hem of her shirt. It was thin, and looked harmless enough, but it was deadly. It was quite easy to kill someone with the wire, with or without chakra. Without it, asphyxiation occurred, but with chakra she could cut off a limb or a head. Luckily some of her chakra had come back, unfortunately not enough to instantly behead someone, but it would make strangling them easier and faster. 

_Great. The only thing that stands between us and death is an itty bitty wire that you could use to floss teeth with. Okay, let's do this thing. Kill them all, but start with the fish man!_

Sakura sighed to herself, why was her other self telling her to go after Kisame? Shouldn't she have a grudge against Itachi!? He was the reason that Sasuke had left in the first place, he was the reason she was even there in the first place, he was after Naruto, he as a missing nin, and he had tortured her for hours, albeit mentally. She still hurt though, especially her stomach, but that might have been because of the kunai he had stabbed her with in their initial fight.

The wound was closed, and she had enough chakra to heal it, but she needed to keep her chakra in case of a life or death situation.

_Speaking of a life or death situation, I sense a large chakra coming towards us, it's not Itachi so the next best bet is Kisame. I swear, if you let that blue skinned fish freak touch my skin I'll murder you!_

How could her other half murder her? Would that be committing suicide? Sakura shook her head and focussed on the important part of her other half's mutterings. If Kisame or someone else with that large a chakra signature was coming towards her it probably meant trouble. If it had been a meal time she would have thought differently, or if there hadn't been a small bathroom in her tiny room she might had thought they were coming to escort her to one.

But neither of those were plausible, so, considering that all the Akatsuki were mass murderers chances that someone had the sudden urge to kill the helpless hostage were high.

_Helpless hostage!? We'll show them! Kick their asses, use the wire, tear their head off! _

Marvellous. Her other half relished in beheadings, that wasn't something Sakura wanted to get out, not that it would matter if anyone ever found out that she had another half, that she talked with herself. No, if anyone ever found that out she'd be surrounded by nice padded walls with only the other crazies to talk to -and her other half of course. Such a wonderful thought.

The door banging open brought her back to reality and away from her musings of padded cells. Kisame stood in her small doorway, smiling cruelly. Maybe her other half was right in wanting him dead first. His need to kill, or at least shed blood was almost tangible in the air around him. Sakura gripped the wire behind her back -she was sitting up on the bed- and waited, her mind coming u with several ways to use the weapon, analyzing each with a quick deliberation that even Shikamaru would have appreciated.

Her chances were slim, especially given the fact that her chakra was so low. But she had to at least try something, or her chances of living were even slimmer. She had enough chakra to knock him out if she could hit the pressure point on his neck, but she would need to distract him somehow or he would kill her before she got a hit in. She didn't have enough chakra for a clone, and she had no weapons other than the thin wire.

_How is it that I reside in the same body as you? Really, I mean, if I weren't here you'd be dead I tell you. A way to distract him? Well, I'd think that being strangled would be distracting don't you?_

Sakura frowned to herself, she had done just fine before returning to the insanity of talking to herself. But her other half was right, he would be distracted by her strangling him. She didn't have enough strength to effectively do it, but just as a distraction it would work…but how did she get close enough to do that, she had the same problem once again.

_Not really. The problem with just going for the pressure point is that he'll sense the pooling of chakra in our hand, but if we go for a purely physical attack he won't see it coming -especially if we appear weak and snivelling. Pretend to be terrified of the bastard, he'll come closer to try and terrify you more, then attack when he's close enough. He'll be to distracted by the wire to notice the pooling of chakra before it's too late. Then it's good-night fish man. You should probably kill him, but his skin looks so thick that it would just take to long to finish the job, just run once he's unconscious. You are getting what I'm saying right!? Cause you'll only have one chance at this thing._

Sakura grunted softly to herself, took a deep breath, and then she pretended to be terrified -not that it was all that hard to fake, seeing as how she was terrified of the huge guy. Sakura whimpered slightly and pushed herself into the corner of the room.

"W-what do you w-want?" Oh great, now she sounded the way she had when she was twelve. Sakura hated being weak, and even pretending to be so weak grated on her nerves, but she had to do it if she wanted a chance at life. It was working too, Kisame was smiling broadly now, and moving closer to her, encouraged by her sniffing and shaking. She watched him come, her body ready to leap into action, the wire held tightly behind her back.

Ten feet. He was chuckling to himself, enjoying her faked discomfort. Eight feet. He was closer than she ever wanted him to be, but he wasn't close enough yet. Six feet. Sakura idly wondered why he has gills on the side of his neck, did they enable him to breath under water? They would come in handy if it were true. Four feet. Almost close enough, at least he didn't smell like a fish. Two feet. Finally, now she could wipe that stupid, malicious, horrid grin off his face. Sakura leapt forward, rushing behind him and snapping the wire around his neck, pulling. The surprise on his face instantly turned to anger and he tried to pry the wire away from his neck, gasping for air.

Sakura gathered chakra into her hand, pushed it into two of her fingers, and, in one swift motion, she released the wire and jabbed him in the neck, hitting his pressure point accurately. He fell forward, and Sakura barely managed to stop him from thumping loudly onto the floor. It wouldn't help her any if someone came to investigate a loud noise, she doubted that they would have anyway but she didn't have the energy to take chances. She reached down and quickly grabbed the wire, it probably wouldn't help her, but she felt better having at least some form of a weapon on her.

Quietly, quickly, her movements careful and graceful, almost like she was dancing on air currents, Sakura made her way t the door of her room and slipped out into the hallway. It was a good thing they didn't consider her enough of a threat to put a chakra barrier up in the doorway, or she would have never escaped. Her senses open, checking for chakra signatures around her, Sakura made her way down a long hallway. The house must have been huge, and, from the chill in the air Sakura guessed that they were somewhere in the Land of Snow. Sakura hated the cold, she'd much rather have a warm spring day, with the grass blowing gently in a warm breeze.

_This is no time to complain about the weather, we're escaping remember!?_

Sakura nodded absently to herself, returning to the objective at hand.

* * *

Itachi frowned to himself, had Kisame changed his mind? No, Kisame lived for bloodshed, so why hadn't Itachi heard Sakura scream yet? Had Kisame killed her? No, no, Kisame wouldn't do that, he was too afraid of Itachi to do something that stupid. So why hadn't he heard a scream, a cry of outrage, shouting, something? Sighing to himself and mentally muttering about the incompetence of others Itachi opened his door and headed in the direction of Sakura's room. 

Opening his senses Itachi would feel Kisame's familiar chakra signature, but he couldn't feel Sakura's. Not that that was unusual or unexpected, Kisame had probably drained her of any chakra she had gained back with his Samehada. Calling himself stupid for finding the fact that Sakura hadn't cried yet gave him a sense of relief Itachi moved to Sakura's room. The door stood open, and Kisame was lying face-first on the floor. Sakura was no where to be found. Itachi scoffed at the unconscious Kisame.

He had been beaten by a kunoichi that had next to none chakra, what a fool. Although, Itachi had to grudgingly admit that Sakura was good to have been able to subdue Kisame so easily. A feat which was next to impossible, after all, Kisame was mostly brute strength, but he was sharp when he wanted to be, you didn't get into Akatsuki for just being all brawn. Still, Kisame had let his guard down, Itachi wasn't happy, now he would have to find Sakura and somehow drag both his captive and his partner away from the house before the Konoha Shinobi got there.

* * *

Sakura ran with all her might towards the largest door in the hallway, she could see by the window beside it that it led to the outside world. 

_Finally, I was beginning to think that we'd be stuck as hostages forever, good thing you have me huh?_

Sakura ignored the voice, it wasn't the time to be congratulating her other half for being cunning, instead it was the time to run as fast as her legs could take her, Sakura only wished that she had enough chakra to speed her journey. Sakura grabbed the handle of the door in her hand and let out a small sigh when it turned -it wasn't even locked!

And then a hand clamped down on hers and another hand went around her front, just below her shoulders, trapping her arms and her. Damn. Sakura could feel Itachi's breath on her neck, and his hard chest at her back. Damn, damn, double damn. How had he caught up with her so fast? How had he known? Had he placed some sort of shield on her room that would alert him if she left? That had to be it didn't it? Itachi leaned into her a little more, his mouth close to her ear. His voice hissed out, sounding more dangerous than usual.

"Clever, little kunoichi, but not clever enough I'm afraid."

Sakura wanted to run and hide in a corner, and then she wanted to douse herself with cold water when her other side spoke up.

_You know, not to make light of the situation or anything, but now that I think about it…and feel it, Itachi has a nice body, maybe we should overlook this whole mass murderer thing huh?_

She was stark raving mad. That was the only explanation. The kidnapping had addled her wits, now she was a psychotic lunatic whose other personality had the hots for the kidnapper that terrified her. And suddenly it all just seemed to funny and Sakura laughed.

She couldn't stop, her laughter just kept on coming, and it kept getting louder, she really was crazy, there she was, her escape completely gone and she was laughing like the crazy she really was, how sad.

_Okay, I know I said he has a nice body, but you laughing like a lunatic isn't helping our situation any, and, while Itachi is hot, he's not hot enough to give up on the escape. I think you need a time out, why don't you let me take over for a while hmm? I'll get us out of this and then you can laugh all you want okay?_

It sounded like such a good idea, normally Sakura would have fought against her other half's whispering, in fact, normally she wouldn't even be hearing her other half, but at that moment, with her laughter still bubbling out of nowhere, it seemed like he best idea in the world, so she let her other side out. She took the backseat and let the other part of her out, let her take control. Oh, she was still Sakura, but that layer of rules, that part of Sakura that made her follow every Shinobi rule to a T, that part of her that made her human and careful to avoid risky situation was gone, and what lay beneath was a cunning strength that verged on true insanity.

Sakura had let her out before, once, unknowingly perhaps, but she had still let her out once, and then she had gone away again, forced away by grief. Sakura had become this woman that one time, this ruthless woman who's top priority was to survive, a woman with animalistic instincts, primal. She had let her out when all of her team members had gone down and she couldn't find a way to save the,. Then she had let her other half out, and she had killed all of the enemies, but she still hadn't been in time to save her team, she hadn't let her other half out in time, she had resisted, so this time Sakura didn't resist, she just let it all slip out, let her ruthless side take over.

* * *

Itachi frowned at the young woman he held against him, stopping her from her escape. She was laughing, it was a loud, frothy laugh, one that hinted at madness. She shouldn't have been laughing, shivering in fear, crying, pleading, perhaps even struggling, but not laughing. Itachi grew wary, wondering if she was truly sane, he loosened his grip somewhat, wondering what she was doing, ready to act. Act in what way he had no idea, but something was obviously off. And suddenly she stopped laughing and spun around. 

Something was off he instantly though, her eyes seemed different, feral, dangerous, insane. She pushed her small body up against him, a low purring in her throat.

"Really now Itachi, you shouldn't scare people like that, what would happen if your hostage died of a heart-attack?" Itachi frowned at her, wondering why she was pressing up against him, her voice low and seductive. She was obviously planning something, but Itachi couldn't make his arms push her away, his body was betraying him, how pathetic.

_

* * *

Sakura was amazed at the cold, emotionless thinking of her other half. _

Yes, that's it, keep him occupied, keep him on his toes, he's suspecting something to happen from the way you're pressing up against him, he's expecting an attack of some kind, good. Keep him occupied, don't let him notice that you have more chakra then before.

_But that's dangerous, Sakura thought. Her other half was using her chakra dangerously, she was converting her last bit of stamina into chakra, the after effects would be terrible, she'd probably be out for days, and even after that she'd be weak. Her other half was draining her stamina to the brink of death, it wasn't healthy, but then again, her other half was ruthless, even when using her own body._

Good, he's distracted, wrap your arms around his neck, that way he won't see when you perform the had seal to the jutsu. Only just enough chakra to perform it, make sure he's distracted. It's a good thing the Hokage taught it to you, yes, very good.

_Sakura gasped at her other half. No, please no. She couldn't let her other half perform the jutsu, it was forbidden!_

Doesn't matter, all that matters is that we get out of here, just sit back and relax, there's nothing left for you to do.

_No, no, no! Something inside Sakura screamed at her to stop her other half, she couldn't allow her to perform that jutsu. The very first hand seal paralyzed the victim, and then their internal organs burst one by one, but they were kept alive until their heart exploded. It was a terrible jutsu, one that Tsunade had only taught her because the woman had been drunk. When she had sobered up Tsunade had made Sakura swear never to use it unless it save Konoha from absolute disaster. It was a terrible way to die, and a merciless way to kill. No, she couldn't let her other half do that. _

_Something screamed within her to stop it before it was too late, to save Itachi above all people. She couldn't let him die like that. It didn't matter that he was a murderer, it didn't matter that she had promised Tsunade, all that mattered was that something within her screamed no. She couldn't let it happen. Sakura fought with her other half, watching in horror as her own body performed the first seal, watching in terror as Itachi's eyes widened in surprise, feeling the feral smile on her own lips. NO! She fought harder with her other self, no, she wouldn't let it happen. No! No, no, no. She wasn't a killer!_

"No!" Sakura screamed, and then with wide eyes she realized that she was in control once again, that she was the one controlling her own body.

* * *

Itachi had been stunned when his body was suddenly immobilized. Then he realized what Sakura had been doing, she had been distracting him, but when she had put her arm around his neck and leaned in she had performed hand seals that he couldn't see and had been to worried about what she was doing in front of him to detect her intent. Clever little kunoichi. Then her eyes had gone wide, her face had changed from an emotionless killer to a terrified young woman, and then back again. Itachi briefly wondered what was going on before Sakura suddenly yelled out.

"No!" She seemed absolutely terrified, her whole body was shaking and Itachi was suddenly glad he couldn't move because his arms wanted to wrap around her shaking form and comfort her, how stupid, he wanted to comfort the woman that had been about to kill him, and probably still could. But something told him that she wasn't going to, she seemed terrified at herself and what she had almost done, but the change in her gave Itachi pause. It was like she had been two different people, one of them a merciless killer, and one of them someone who tried to hide her weakness behind a brave front.

Sakura backed carefully away from him, tears in her eyes and her whole body quivering.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry, so, so sorry." Her voice was a mere whisper, like a wraith, she seemed so vulnerable, and so sick with herself. Then she shook herself, and her brave front went back up, once again hiding the scared little girl, but Itachi could see the cracks in her mask, could see the places where her wall had crumbled. She turned and reached for the doorknob, and there was nothing Itachi could do, he could feel the effects of her partial done jutsu fading, but he still couldn't move more than a finger, and barely even that.

But suddenly her whole body went taunt and her back arched, and then her body sagged and she fell towards him. Lucky for her he could now move his arms and her caught her, waiting for her jutsu to wear off completely. Her eyes were closed and her breathing shallow, and Itachi realized that she had used far too much chakra. He had seen it one sometimes, when people grew desperate enough that they would chance death in order to have a little more chakra, but not often. Those that survived were usually out for a few days and when they woke they were often drained of energy, weak as a newborn.

Itachi studied her and decided that she would survive, but he still had the problem of carrying both her and Kisame, and the fact that he was still partially paralyzed. Then too, was Sakura's odd change, it was something to think about. Briefly, Itachi wondered what jutsu she had been performing that had scared her so badly, she didn't seem like the type to know anything that scary, perhaps she just hadn't like the thought of killing him.

No, that made no sense, she had killed before, the only reason Kisame was alive was because she hadn't had the chakra or the time to kill him. Itachi almost sighed in relief when he was fully able to move his body again, he hadn't the feeling of being weak and at someone's mercy, Sakura was more dangerous and powerful than he had given her credit for, he would have to watch her more carefully to make sure she never escaped again.

Picking Sakura's limp form up Itachi went back to her room where he was relieved to see the briefest of stirrings from Kisame. A sharp kick to the side brought Kisame fully to life with much cursing, but Kisame quickly shut up when he realized who had woken him, then his eyes strayed to Sakura's form and his eyes widened.

"That little kunoichi beat me, I can't believe I let a little girl beat me." Itachi glared at Kisame, who looked quite upset with himself over his apparent loss.

"Hn." Itachi walked away, heading for his room to grab his stuff and the bad that Sakura had been captured with.

"Get ready to leave Kisame, you've delayed us long enough with your incompetence."

No need for Kisame to know that Sakura had also beaten Itachi, that was something that no one would ever find out, that was the last thing that he needed was for people to learn. Grabbing the two bags out of his room Itachi placed his straw hat on his head, then, looking at Sakura he decided to put one of his spare Akatsuki robes on her, he didn't want the Konoha Shinobi to hear tales f two Akatsuki members dragging off a pink haired girl, it would make it too easy.

Itachi denied to himself that it was because he didn't want her to get cold. He strapped a straw hat to her head, effectively covering her pink hair. Then he left, throwing both packs to Kisame who caught them with a frown but placed them on his back with his own without complaint. And then they were racing through the frost covered trees, heading towards their next destination. Itachi briefly realized that he hadn't left the Konoha Shinobi with the clear scent of Sakura's blood to follow, but a part of him didn't care and the other part merely said that it would be more fun that way.

* * *

Okay, thanks for reading, hope you liked it, I know I had fun writing this chapter. Reviews appreciated. See you all next time! 


	4. Dreamscape

**Darkness Within**

**-Dreamscape-**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of the characters, wish I did, but alas, I can only borrow them and play with them, then share my make-believe with you.

**Important Note: **The rating has been upped to mature people, so please know that this chapter deals with mature subject matter. It's a lime, although it's mostly implied, but please, don't read it if you find it offensive or scarring. Thank-you.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed! Replies are in your in-boxes! Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Sakura woke to something soft pressing against her lips. Her eyes fluttered open and she was confronted with a pair of red eyes. Itachi. He stared at her for a moment, and then he leaned in and kissed her again. His lips where warm and soft, yet dominating. Sakura felt herself leaning into his kiss. She knew she should stop, it was wrong, he was the enemy, but that voice was suddenly so small, and she didn't care. The only thing that mattered were Itachi's lips and the way they were caressing her own. 

Sakura came to with a start, her breathing slightly rapid and a slight blush covering her features. She stared at the darkness rushing past her trying to cool her cheeks. Wait…darkness? Sakura had the distinct sense that she was moving…and there was something solid and slightly boney beneath her. Itachi. She was slung over Itachi's shoulder. Well, it was a better position than she had been in in her dream.

_I'd take the dream over this any day, I think I'm going to be sick, at least it's dark so I can't see everything rushing past._

Shit. Her other half was still there, still muttering away in her head. Sakura had hoped that after almost killing Itachi her other half would just disappear. Well, at least the muttering was better than the calculated coldness, Sakura supposed that she could put up with her other half liking Itachi, it was that or let her other half out, not something she was going to be doing anytime soon. Groaning, Sakura closed her eyes and succumbed to her dreamscape again, though, thankfully her next dream was only about Naruto trying to force feed her ramen.

* * *

Sasuke rushed though the forest, he had picked up on the trail of the team that was tracking Sakura, and therefore Itachi, and now he was following them. He would pass them sooner or later, but he would let them do the work for a while. Sasuke still seethed with rage at being thwarted in his revenge, but a part of him couldn't completely hate Sakura. She had just been doing her job, he could forgive her, he would have to because every time he closed his eyes he saw her face surrounded by a pink halo of hair, her green eyes half lidded and her silky voice calling his name. 

It was a torment to know that Itachi had her, Sasuke just hoped that Itachi didn't do anything to Sakura. But Sakura was strong now, she wouldn't let Itachi do anything, after all, hadn't she waited all this time for him to return? No, she would fight Itachi, and Sasuke doubted that his brother would do anything anyway, she was just bait for Naruto. No, Sakura would be his and his alone. A cruel smile found its way unknowingly onto Sasuke's face as he ran through the trees, his thoughts on Sakura.

* * *

Naruto glared at Kiba before exploding. 

"What the hell do you mean Akamaru can't find Sakura's scent anymore?!" Akamaru wined and Kiba huffed.

"What the hell man, its like I told you, Akamaru can tell that Sakura's been in that house over there, and by the strength I'd saw recently and for a while, but after that there's nothing." Shikamaru sighed.

"So troublesome. They must be traveling to fast to leave a scent, which means that they wanted us to find them, che, I knew this was too easy, now the question is, why did they suddenly pick up the pace?" Naruto looked wildly at Shikamaru.

"They didn't do anything to Sakura-chan did they?" Shikamaru shrugged, his cool appearance not betraying his worried thoughts.

"Well, they are Akatsuki, but I doubt they did anything too damaging, she's the bait for you after all." Naruto nodded slowly.

"All right, then let's go check out that house." Shikamaru frowned, studying the house, he could think of several nasty things that the Akatsuki could have left them but decided against voicing his thoughts, instead he turned to Hinata.

"Hinata, is anyone inside?" The young woman activated her Byakugan and stared at the large house for a few minutes before her eyes returned to normal.

"No, it's empty and I can't see any traps, so either they didn't leave any or they're too well hidden."

Shikamaru nodded and sighed to himself, this really was a troublesome mission, but he wasn't about to turn back, he was friends with Sakura, and he would do whatever it took to get her back so long as it was what the Hokage wanted.

"Right, alright, let's go, Naruto, make a few shadow clones and send them in first, at least that way if there are any traps nobody will die." Naruto gave a curt nod and created two shadow clones, both of them shot up to the house and smashed through he door. Shikamaru grimaced.

"Che, so stupid, it was probably open too." Naruto shrugged, obviously not caring. After a while there was the faint sound of the clones disappearing and Naruto looked over to Shikamaru.

"There's nothing in there." Shikamaru nodded.

"Alright, let's go check it out." Naruto's mouth dropped.

"What!? But I already told you that there's nothing in there, we should be trying to find Sakura not see how the Akatsuki keep house!" Shikamaru sighed to himself and winced at Naruto's loud voice.

"So troublesome, geez. We're going to try and find clues as to where they might have taken Sakura stupid. How can we find her unless we have some clue as to where to track her to?" Naruto crossed his arms and somehow managed to look like a pouting child, Shikamaru sighed before Naruto finally relented.

"Fine, but let's make this quick, we have to find Sakura-chan soon." Shikamaru nodded before he motioned everyone else forward except for Jiro.

"Jiro, I need you to send a summon to the Hokage again, tell her about the house, its location and then about loosing Sakura's trail. Tell her we'll try to pick up the trail as soon as possible." Jiro nodded and Shikamaru took off.

* * *

Sighing to himself Jiro summoned two birds, sending the first off to Konoha, and the second her reluctantly sent to Orochimaru. His master wasn't going to be pleased that their progress had slowed, but if Jiro withheld information it would be even worse. Then he got up and headed into the house after all the others, hoping that no other Akatsuki members just happened to drop by and see that their home had been invaded.

* * *

Itachi frowned at himself, there was something wrong with him, he couldn't stop thinking about the pink haired kunoichi that was slung across his shoulder. She had been awake for a few minutes at one point and then she had gone back to sleep, she hadn't even protested him carrying her, which only meant that she had really drained herself. 

Although, in a way that was a good thing because now Itachi didn't have to worry about her escaping once they got to their destination. They were heading to a small village near the mountains in the Country of Snow, normally Itachi wouldn't have stopped unless it was a place used by the Akatsuki, but he felt a need to scare someone, and helpless inn owners seemed to fit the bill.

When they entered the small inn Itachi saw Kisame grin at the instant fear that clouded the room when people saw their cloaks. Itachi shifted Sakura on his shoulder and moved towards the counter that one of the employees was standing beside.

"Three rooms." The young woman that stood behind the counter gulped, and, with her whole being shaking, stood up straight.

"I-I'm sorry s-sir, but w-we're f-full u-up." Kisame's grin grew and Itachi nodded to him. Suddenly Samehada was at the woman's throat and Kisame was chuckling softly.

Itachi spoke again.

"Three rooms, side by side." The woman cast fearful eyes in Kisame's direction and nodded slightly.

"A-as you w-wish." She quickly produced three keys, her hand shook and she gave all three to Itachi. Itachi smirked at the paleness of the woman's face, sometimes scaring people could be so easy. Itachi nodded again to Kisame and threw his partner one of the keys, then, taking both Sakura and the remaining two keys Itachi headed for the stairs. Kisame, he knew, would head out to find a bar and then probably drink them out of Sake. It was a good thing nobody asked the Akatsuki to pay for fear of their lives, because otherwise Kisame would have been broke long ago.

Itachi unlocked one of the rooms and carefully laid Sakura onto the bed. She moaned when he removed the Akatsuki cloak and the cool air hit her, causing her to shiver. Itachi couldn't stop himself from running a nail down her bare arm and watching her shiver and let out a small gasp in her sleep, her lips parting slightly. Her lips captivated him, they were full and looked alluringly soft. Itachi wrenched himself up fro his slightly bent position over her. What was wrong with him? He couldn't get her out of his thoughts, he was becoming weak and it was all because of a stupid kunoichi. Itachi quickly left her room, deciding to go to his and sleep, maybe he could escape her in his dreams.

* * *

Akamaru barked and Kiba called to the others.

"Hey, Akamaru say's Sakura's scent is strongest in this room, this must be where they kept her." Hinata followed the others into the room, and she was glad when it turned out to be just a small bedroom and not some kind of prison cell. They looked around in the room for a while but none of them found anything that would help to lead them to Sakura, eventually they all filtered out around the house, looking for something that would lead them to Sakura. Hinata wandered the hallways, feeling helpless, hoping that Sakura was alright and then feeling angry at herself for not being strong enough to help Sakura.

The light glinted off of something on the floor and Hinata sighed, her vision filled with spots. Perfect, just what she needed, something to slow down her hopeless search. But Hinata was curious to know what the sun had reflected off of, bending down Hinata saw it. It was a thin wire, it looked harmless enough but Hinata had seen Sakura use it before and she knew that it could be deadly. In fact, Hinata had been the one who had helped Sakura hide it in the hem of her ANBU shirt, Sakura couldn't sew and Hinata could, so Hinata had agreed to help her, always wondering why Sakura would want to put a wire in her shirt. Now she knew. The wire was there to help her is she was ever caught. Hinata carefully picked up the wire, staring it at it and what it implied.

Sakura had tried to escape, but it obviously hadn't worked because she never would have left her only weapon behind. Hinata looked up and saw the door not two feet away. Tears pricked her eyes. Sakura had been so close. A hand on her shoulder caused Hinata to jump a little, she turned to stare at the person attached to the hand and saw Naruto.

"Oy, Hinata, what's that?" Hinata sniffed a little, her sorrow for Sakura turning into a burning hatred for the Akatsuki bastards that had taken her best friend.

"It's Sakura's." Naruto looked puzzled and leaned in closer to see what it was.

"Um, Hinata, that's a piece of string." Shikamaru appeared and looked at the wire Hinata was holding, hitting Naruto on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"Baka, that's not a piece of string, it's a wire, how do you know its Sakura's Hinata, they would have taken away her weapons."

Hinata glared at Shikamaru, and he stepped back a few steps.

"It's hers, I know it is because I helped her hide it in her shirt, it was in case she was ever captured, she also had small blades on her boots." Shikamaru looked at the wire then to the door, letting out a slow sigh.

"Damn, she was close too." Naruto looked puzzled.

"You mean Sakura-chan escaped!?" He sounded so happy it broke Hinata's heart to tell him otherwise.

"No Naruto-kun, she didn't. She almost did but if she had she wouldn't have dropped her weapon, someone stopped her before she could make it." Naruto stubbornly shook his head.

"No, maybe she left it there so that Akamaru could smell it and pick up her scent, and then we'd know that she was heading back to Konoha."

Kiba came up and leaned against the wall.

"No, Sakura knows that Akamaru can't get a scent off of something that small, sorry Naruto, but it looks like the Akatsuki still have her." Naruto sat heavily on the floor, banging his fist on the wall.

"Damn it! This is all my fault!" Shino walked up quietly, he was the only one that had kept his ANBU mask on while in the house but now he took it off.

"No, it was Sasuke's fault for not following orders in the first place, but don't worry, she's strong, she'll be fine. Let's go, there must be someone that saw which way they went." Shikamaru sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, it'll take forever but it's the only thing we can do, we'll have to stop at all the villages and talk to all the people we see on the road. Che, so troublesome. Let's go then."

* * *

Itachi woke up, growling to himself. Damn her. She had even followed hi into his dreams, she was always at the edge of his vision and he had never been able to catch her. Why was this happening to him? What jutsu had she performed to make her the sole thing in his thoughts. He had to find a way to break her hold on him. She was making him weak, he couldn't be weak, he had to be powerful, and she was dragging him down. It had to be stopped, but how?

Then an idea slowly bloomed in his mind. Perhaps it was just that she was something he didn't have. Maybe if he took her, if he owned her she would leave his thoughts. Yes. That was it, that was all, she was merely something he had denied himself and his mind was trying to tell him to take her for himself. Then his thoughts would once again be his own. It was so simple Itachi wondered why he hadn't thought of it before, realized it before.

Itachi slowly made his way into her room, smiling at the thought of finally being free of her curse, of releasing the chain that she had somehow bound him with.

* * *

Sakura woke up slowly, her groggy senses trying to make sense of her surroundings. She was in room again, ha she merely dreamed that they had been travelling? No, this room was larger, and the bed she was on felt worn but soft. Sakura looked around, although she barely had the energy to move her head, a small side table held a basin of water, a single chair stood beside the wooden door, a few bland paintings covered the walls. A small door led to what looked like a bathroom. It looked like an inn…Sakura could faintly hear the sound of people below her floorboards, so, it _was _an inn.

How unusual. Why would they have stopped at an inn? Then it hit her, they wanted to be found, she was the bait after all, and if they went to some hidden house owned by the Akatsuki, then Naruto would never be able to find them, but rumours of Akatsuki staying at an inn would eventually reach even Naruto's ears that seemed oblivious to everything but the word ramen. Sighing to herself Sakura shifted slightly, wincing at the stiffness of her body and her complete lack of energy, she felt like she could sleep for years, but she was awake now and she didn't allow herself to fall into sleep again.

Sakura realized that she wasn't tied up, just laid out on the bed, which wasn't all that surprising, seeing as how she couldn't find the energy to do more than twitch every now and then. How pathetic.

_Yes, pathetic, and we wouldn't be in this pathetic situation if you hadn't stopped me from escaping._

Sakura wanted to hit her other half, but she didn't feel like hurting herself so she merely ignored her other half's mutterings.

Sakura wished that her other half would shut up, she knew that it was her fault she wasn't free, but she couldn't have let her other half kill Itachi so mercilessly. Or at all for that matter. What was wrong with her?

_It's called attraction to the opposite sex, but relax, I'm sure it's just because the only two choices you have are between Itachi and the big fish, ANYBODY would take Itachi over Kisame, trust me. _

It didn't matter that she was responding to the better looking of the two, she shouldn't have been responding at all. She had lived in Konoha for years and she had only liked Sasuke, then when he left she hadn't liked anyone. She didn't even respond to Sasuke when he had come back, so why were her thoughts always finding their way over to Itachi?

_Che, who cares, just don't go soft and gooey on me, we still have to escape remember?_

Like she could have forgotten, not that she would be escaping anytime in the next few days. Sakura's body tended to heal faster than others, mostly because she was a medic nin and her body automatically seemed to heal itself after years of relentless training, but even after using chakra to try and deplete the weakness of her body it would be a while before she could attempt another escape.

The opening of her door brought Sakura out of her thoughts and caused her to focus on Itachi. He was standing in her doorway, staring at her, his red eyes glinting in the weak light of the sunset. Sakura wondered what he wanted, it wasn't like she could go anywhere, but he might try to check and see if she had any other hidden weapons, let him try, he wouldn't find anymore of them anyway, the only other hidden weapons were in her ANBU gloves and he had already taken them from her sometime after taking her boots.

* * *

Itachi stared at her, lying on the bed with the cherry blossom trees tattooed on her legs and the cherry blossoms tattooed along her arm and trailing up her shoulder and chest. Yes, he would have her, she would be his, and then he would be back to his old self. Perhaps it was the tattoos, she was different, and so he wanted her because she was something he had never had before. That was all, and now his thoughts of her would end. Yes, he would cast off the small amount of weakness she had shoved onto him, freedom was within his grasp. Itachi stepped into the room, a small smirk on his face, hidden behind his cloak.

* * *

Sakura watched him slowly enter her room, she could tell he was smirking about something even though his cloak hid it, but he gave off a self-satisfied air. Why was he in her room? To warn her not to try to escape again? Probably, that or he was pissed that she had almost killed him, could have killed him but chose not to. Great, the last thing she needed was to be seen as a threat by a psychotic killer.

_Ya, but he's a pretty hot psychotic killer, you've got to admit._

Sakura wasn't going to admit to anything her other half said, she would tell herself she wasn't attracted to him, and then eventually she would believe it.

* * *

Itachi watched her eyes watching him. Her eyes held puzzlement, she was obviously oblivious to what he was about to do that he almost smiled. It wouldn't matter soon, so soon he would be free. Itachi ignored the small part of his mind that told him not to do it, that told him he would regret it.

But why would he regret it? Once he had had her she would be gone from his mind, and why should he regret taking one little kunoichi when he had absolutely no regret for killing his entire clan? But the voice in the back of his mind was quiet, overpowered by his need to free himself from Sakura's power, from her presence in his thoughts, his dreams, his being.

* * *

Sakura watched him come closer to her, he closed the door and she waited for the threats to come. But, instead of threatening her for trying to escape he removed his cloak, revealing a black mesh shirt and black pants.

_Run. Get out, get out, run, move, move now!_

The fear in her other half's voice started Sakura, she had been expecting some sarcastic remark about how good he looked, not the urging to run. But she couldn't run, why would she want to, why was her other half so afraid?

Then Itachi moved, his speed too fast for her to see. His lips were on hers, harsh, rough, nothing like in her dream. His hands were stripping off her clothing. The warnings of her other half came back to her and Sakura realized what was going to happen too late, but she struggled anyway, not caring that he already had her out of her shirt, not caring that his eyes looked feral and dangerous. She struggled for her life, for her purity, for her sanity.

* * *

Itachi was somewhat surprised by the feverish way she struggled, at one point she managed to get away. It was then that Itachi noticed another tattoo on her. It was in the middle of her back, where her spine dipped. Sakura, written in kanji. It was the simplest of her tattoos but for some reason Itachi liked it the best. And then he pulled her back to the bed and bound her wrists above her head with chakra strings, ignoring her cries, her shouts of protest, her struggles. Intent on his task, his task of freeing himself, yes, he would end it all soon.

* * *

Sakura couldn't get away, her hands were bound and no matter how much she struggled against him Itachi just seemed to become stronger. The tears wouldn't stop running, the salty water flowed from her eyes, like blood, like the blood Itachi was causing her to shed. She felt numb, dull, stained, terrified, weak, oh so weak.

She felt pain, not just the throbbing pain between her legs but a pain that wasn't related to her body, she felt like she had been cut open, and that she would never be whole again. She hated Itachi, she hated what he was doing, she hated the feelings that he was producing, the numbness, but most of all she hated herself, her body for being so weak, for allowing her to be hurt. She was weak, had _always _been weak, but she had never wanted to be shown that, especially not in this way.

Then cool air surrounded Sakura's naked body and she realized that Itachi was standing now, staring at her for a moment before he grabbed his clothes, dressed, and then left the room, red clouds flowing along behind him just like her blood, her innocence. Sakura felt horrible, used, dirty, pathetic. She needed to be clean, to at least feel slightly less dirty, to be somewhat free from the memory of what Itachi had done.

Sakura moved her weak body slowly, as though she would break with to harsh a movement, something that felt all to real. Eventually she got up off the bed, only to fall to the ground in a cry of pain, it hurt too much, everything just hurt. And the tears wouldn't stop, like her should was bleeding, they wouldn't stop, she couldn't stop them. On the cold harsh floor Sakura curled her small frame into a ball and sobbed, letting the thin rug absorb the tears that would not be stemmed, only wishing that the rug could absorb her memories and fears just as easily.

Eventually Sakura shifted, the tears still hadn't stopped but she needed to wash everything away. Her body hurt too much to stand, so Sakura slowly crawled her way to the bathroom, wishing that the shower would wash more than just the stench of Itachi sweat mixed with her blood away from her body, but knowing it wouldn't. She pulled herself along the floor until the reached the shower, then she dragged herself into a standing position and turned the water on, waiting for the steam to cloud the bathroom, wishing it would cloud her thoughts.

Sakura moved herself into the spray of scalding water, and then she began to scrub. She scrubbed her body until her skin was red and raw, but still it wasn't enough, still she scrubbed, only when her skin seeped blood did Sakura stop to heal herself with what little chakra she had left. And then she began the process over again, still convinced that she could smell something, feel something other than a clean body.

No, she would never be whole again. And for once Sakura wanted the comments of her other half, but her other side was being silent, as though she too was too shocked and damned to speak, so Sakura was left alone with her new thoughts and memories, and still the tears came.

* * *

Wow. Okay, ya, I didn't want to write this…(sniffs) but it had to be done. First please let me say that there was a point to me writing this, it's not just some pointless thing thrown in to create drama, okay, it does/will eventually lead to things. All right, thank-you everyone for reading! Reviews welcome. 


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